What does $4 gas have to do with chemical warfare, America’s future and the Antichrist? A prophecy in Daniel may explain.

There is no shortage of oil. There are oil tankers sitting in our waters off the coast, and they are not allowed to unload.” A CIA employee told my father this during the famous 1972 oil embargo. The OPEC nations, led by Saudi Arabia, felt the United States had intervened in the Yom Kippur War, thus saving the nation of Israel from calamity. As punishment, the Arab oil barons united in an embargo to teach America a lesson.

At the time, a person’s license tag number determined the days that car owner could purchase gas—odd numbers only on one day, and even numbers the next. Americans demanded that our government become independent from Arabian oil. Eventually the crisis ended, the prices dropped, and the issue faded like a morning fog in the rising sun. The only good legislation passed was the decision to open an area called the strategic reserves, where oil would be stored in the event of a national catastrophe or an emergency.

Yet in 2008, pump prices again rose to record levels. The OPEC nations cut production to drive up prices during America’s highest driving season. During the summer months in America, a specific blend of gas was mandated, which could only be mixed by specific refineries. It was also pointed out that Americans were driving larger vehicles that demanded more fuel but got fewer miles per gallon. A combination of these factors, along with two major hurricanes, shot the price of fuel to more than $4 a gallon in many states. read more

What is god saying and doing today? Perry Stone interprets the signs of our time.

When Charisma Publisher Steve Strang sat down with Bible teacher Perry Stone, he expected to talk about dreams and visions. What he got instead was a download of Stone’s interpretation of how today’s events relate to the end times—and what believers can do.

CHARISMA: How do you get the revelation that you teach?

STONE: The significance of understanding the mysteries of God is to pray in the Spirit and get the mind of the Spirit. The Spirit of God will quicken your spirit and your intellect to truths that have always been there, but maybe are not commonly taught, and helps you compare Scripture with Scripture, because the Bible even says that “the anointing that abides teaches you all things.” read more

Bible teacher Perry Stone’s Ministry continues to expand around the world while hitting a public nerve with insight into biblical prophecy.

Perry Stone is a study in contrasts. He has limited formal education for someone sought after as a Bible expert, yet he’s written more than 40 books. A Southerner, he’s popular in the Northeast. He bases his ministry in a small Tennessee town, yet he impacts the world through television. He is a fourth-generation Pentecostal preacher whose largest group of followers are Baptists—and Roman Catholics are in the top four.

Best known as a teacher of end-times Bible prophecy, his biggest pleasure is poring over the Scriptures—he claims to have put in 60,000 hours of study. Before he retires, he wants to finish a copious study Bible (he was working on it before our interview began). But he also has a vision to build a youth camp that would look like a city in Old Testament Israel. read more

Amid economic and cultural uncertainty, Christian higher education is taking on a new meaning at these growing schools

What do you get when you combine two unemployed parents, a family with no college graduates and one student with a high school diploma who’s determined to get a university degree? You get Taylor Acthley, whose dream of becoming the first member of her family to finish college is coming true. The 20-year-old junior at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., is three-quarters of the way to getting her bachelor’s degree in anthropology.

Despite her family’s current economic challenges, Acthley made it her No. 1 priority to find a school that integrated her education with her faith. She knew a Christian college or university would cost more—faith-based institutions on average are more expensive than state-funded programs—but she also knew Lee had an intangible element that would make it the best place for her to accomplish her dream.

“I needed something to be a part of,” Acthley says. “I needed people who were going to keep me accountable, to keep me moving so I could finish. I went in knowing I could meet my goal.” read more